Detroit hosts debut postseason 'Bucks on the Pond'

Detroit hosts postseason 'Bucks on the Pond'

The Motor City is revved up and ready to roll. We're forging new paths, setting our sights on new destinations.

Those words are part of the company mission at resurgent Detroit Diesel, which has designed and built heavy-duty engines that fuel commerce and transportation around the world for the past 70 years.

Michael Landskroener works there, and right now those words mean a lot to him. He has upper-deck season tickets at Comerica Park, and he went to both games as the Tigers raced to a 2-0 lead over Oakland in their American League Division Series. At Game 2, Landskroener even forged a new path to win some bucks.

Landskroener and Samantha Stone, both from Westland, Mich., were contestants in the first postseason episode of the hit MLB.com game show "Bucks on the Pond." A new episode is being released every Tuesday and Thursday this season, and this is the 20th overall episode and the 10th participating ballpark.

Watch the video to see if they did as well as their favorite team.

"[I was] very surprised," Landskroener said when asked how he felt being asked to join the show.

They were out on the concourse beyond the left-field foul pole, using standing-room only seats for Game 2 "because the view was better." When the "Bucks" crew told him he could win some bucks just by answering trivia questions, his first reaction was, "hoax, maybe?"

And then, finally: "Excited. ... It was a lot of fun. We love the game shows here, everyone likes the Dunkin Donuts races, the games, trivia...it's a big hit."

"Bucks on the Pond" is hosted by Jeremy Brisiel, and you might be a part of it when you least expect it. Fans at the ballpark interact with MLB.com's studio through the magic of technology in conjunction with game action inside. In creating a new experience for fans, MLB.com is giving people a chance to earn bucks while they spend bucks at the ballpark.

Contestants are asked a trivia question -- general knowledge and baseball -- on each pitch during a half-inning of baseball. Get the question correct and win money. Get the question wrong and it's a strike. Three strikes and you're out.

The questions' difficulty and value increase with the number of outs in the on-field action: $5 easy questions to start, $10 medium-difficulty questions after one out, $20 hard questions after two outs. If the contestant lasts longer than the team's at-bat, they win the bucks in their bank.

The pair of Tigers fans were certainly dressed for the occasion. He wore a customized Miguel Cabrera No. 24 jersey. On his head was a crown, and written on the crown was "44 HR, 139 RBI, .330 BA." Two more crowns dangled from the strings of the Tigers hoodie he wore beneath the jersey, signifying -- yes -- a Triple Crown.

So an early Cabrera trivia question was not going to be tough to handle. And since Stone is in middle school, she said the science questions were right up her alley.

"My teachers have been teaching us all that right now, because we're reviewing for the MEAP test," Stone said, referring to the statewide Michigan Education Assessment Program test, administered each year to students in grades three through eight.

Both contestants were among the many at Comerica Park with Tigers face paint.

The show was taped before the start of the game, and what followed was all good for Landskroener, Stone and the Detroit capacity crowd. That best-of-five series now moves to Oakland, where the A's would have to win three in a row to advance. The Tigers will try to return to the AL Championship Series for a second year in a row in hopes of winning their first world championship since 1984.

"World Series or bust," Landskroener said.

In addition to the Tigers, teams visited by the "Bucks" crew in 2012 include the Astros, Cubs, Marlins, Red Sox, Reds, Royals, Orioles, White Sox and Yankees. Bookmark MLB.com/bucks and be on the lookout for the "Bucks" crew at your ballpark.

Mark Newman is enterprise editor of MLB.com. Read and join other baseball fans on his MLB.com community blog. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.